Where is the present capital of Myanmar? Is it Binmana?

Since the end of 2005, the latest event that people are puzzled about Myanmar is the sudden announcement of "moving the capital" by the Myanmar government.

It should be said that moving the capital of a country is not a trivial matter, involving not only internal affairs and diplomacy, but also the interests of the general public. However, in Myanmar, moving the capital is "sudden". On June 7, 2005, Kyaw Shan, Minister of Information of Myanmar Government, officially announced at the press conference that "as Myanmar is striving to develop into a modern country, it is necessary to find a central place to house the central government". Therefore, the government decided to move the capital to Binmana, 320km north of Yangon. Prior to this, on June 4, 65438, the Myanmar government had issued an order to move the capital inward. Public officials who disobey orders will be sentenced to three years' imprisonment. According to this order, Myanmar's Ministry of National Defense, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and more than a dozen other government departments, under the leadership of their respective deputy ministers, packed their bags in the early morning of the 5th and led their respective personnel to Binmana.

Yangon is the largest city in Myanmar with a population of 5.3 million. It is also the political, economic and cultural center of Myanmar. Since 1948, it has been the capital of Myanmar, and Binmana is a small city in central Myanmar with a population of less than 65,438+10,000. Since the Bagan dynasty, almost all the historical capitals of Myanmar have been built on the Irrawaddy River. Different from this tradition, the town of Binmana is located in the upper reaches of the Steng River, which is relatively remote. This city has never been an important political, military, economic and cultural center in Myanmar's history, but a "landmark" of timber transshipment center for a long time. In recent years, I may be preparing to move the capital here, so I built a new city more than ten kilometers away from the old city. Since 2002, many new buildings have been built for government departments and military departments. Some administrative and military facilities and related service facilities are still under construction. But this city is really located on the main road in central Myanmar. In addition to the original roads and railways leading to east, west, north and south, a six-lane expressway leading to Yangon has been built in recent years, and now the traffic can be said to extend in all directions. However, before the Burmese government moved the capital publicly, most foreigners had never even heard of the name Binmana. In Myanmar, not only ordinary people, but also many civil servants and even senior government officials only heard of such an important event before the capital relocation order was issued. Therefore, the sudden relocation of Myanmar's capital from the world-famous Yangon to the "little-known" town of Binmana has really become a "mystery" for many people at home and abroad in Myanmar, so all kinds of legends and speculations have sprung up at one time.

There are many different reasons for moving the capital.

Many analysts believe that moving the capital is due to the lessons of the US military attacking Iraq and the Burmese military government; It is also said that moving the capital to the central part is conducive to strengthening the government's control over border ethnic minorities; In the history of Myanmar, there have been many examples of moving the capital, especially during the last feudal dynasty, the Kampong Dynasty. It is not surprising that moving the capital is a tradition. Some people even think that the upper class in Myanmar believed in divination from ancient times to the rosary period. This time, the capital was moved because the top leaders of the Burmese military government listened to the advice of the fortune teller, "moving the capital to avoid evil and make money."

All these "confusions" have their origins, and these thoughts and considerations cannot be completely ruled out in the high-level military of Myanmar. But in my opinion, these are probably not enough evidence.

The "American attack theory" lacks reliable and credible basis. Although the Bush administration once accused the Myanmar government of being an "outpost of tyranny", it mainly targeted at the so-called democracy and human rights issues in Myanmar. After all, Myanmar is not Iraq, and the United States has no suitable excuse, so it is impossible not to consider all kinds of relations. It is hard to imagine that the United States will go to war against a member of the United Nations, an ASEAN member, and a country with friendly relations with China and India, without posing a threat to itself and the international community. From a military point of view, there is a great disparity between the United States and Myanmar in military strength and technology. If the United States really wants to fight Myanmar, it is much easier for the US military to attack the sparsely populated and isolated city of Binmana than Rangoon, a big city with a population of several million. What's more, hurting innocent civilians is a taboo in contemporary wars.

As for the "theory of controlling border minorities", the solution of contemporary ethnic problems in Myanmar has not been fully considered. The problem lies not in the location of the capital, but mainly in the policy. What's more, the situation of ethnic relations in Myanmar is favorable to the military government, and political settlement has obviously become an irreversible trend to solve ethnic problems in Myanmar.

The "divination theory" ignores the fact that it is now clear that "moving the capital" was not a "whim" of the top military government in 2005. Myanmar's military government quietly built various facilities in Binmana several years ago, and is making secret preparations for moving the capital.

One of the factors that led to the military government's sudden announcement of moving the capital in 2005 may be the continuous explosions in Yangon in recent years, especially the three explosions in one day on May 7, 2005, which killed 1 1 people and injured 162 people. Perhaps stimulated by the explosion, the military government, which was already preparing to move the capital, felt that "it is better to move early than late." If so, it is not difficult to solve the mystery of moving the capital.